Carbonate rocks outcrop in the area of Maratea mountains. They belong to the Bulgheria-Verbicaro and Alburno-Cervati Units and exhibit heavy fracturing and occasional karstification. The structural setting depends on the overthrusting of the carbonate rocks of the Bulgheria-Verbicaro Unit on a clayey-marly complex made up of the plastic soils of the Liguride Unit.
The intrinsic vulnerability of the area at large was assessed by means of a parametric point-and-weight system, whereas the SINTACS method was applied on a higher scale to assess a sample area located on the western side, along the valley of Maratea Fiumicello where a number of springs and instability phenomena are reported.
Hence, the area is highly vulnerable. All the more, the urban and suburban area of Maratea because of the high residential development in the vicinity of springs. Severe problems of slope instability have repeatedly damaged the water supply and sewage system, thereby affecting the quality and the quantity of readily available groundwater resources and contributing to the degradation of the built-up area as a result of the impact on slope stability and construction works in place.